Dark Side of Sunset Pointe Street Team

They Still Call Me Sister Street Team

Tricia O'Malley

Sacrifice

Marilyn Holdsworth

Thursday, November 21, 2013

If you could have a dinner party and invite anyone dead or alive, who would you ask?

First person I’d ask is that amazing British chef, Heston Blumenthal – I’d send him into the kitchen to cook. Leonardo da Vinci so I could ask him if he created the Shroud of Turin. Elvis Presley, to find out whether he really is still alive. Shakespeare: I’d get him drunk and find out if he had any great ideas he wasn’t able to develop before he died, and if he did, I’d steal them. I’d also invite my dog, Scout, she died about 8 years ago. I’d give her all the titbits I never gave her when she was alive because I didn’t want her to get fat. I’d let her eat all she wanted and steal stuff off the table. Oh, and Cinderella to clean up afterwards.

What do you hope people will take away from your writing? How will your words make them feel?

A passion for life and for making every second count.

What movie do you love to watch?

I watch what I like to write – the big historical epics – Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Dances with Wolves, Gone with the Wind.

How do you feel about social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter? Are they a good thing?

I think they’re great to establish and develop connections with your readers. I love that I can talk to my readers now, it was so much harder than the old days when letters to my publishers would take weeks sometimes months to get to me. It’s also great to make connections with other writers. But I think there’s a real danger of spending all your time on social media instead of spending your time writing books. It can be a great time waster. Most writers procrastinated enough before social media came along!

How do you think people perceive writers?

People either think I spend all day drinking coffee, having deep conversations about Hemingway with John Grisham and driving supermodels around in a Ferrari or they look at me with genuine pity, assuming I survive on benefits. There’s rarely any middle ground.

She was taught to obey. Now she has learned to rebel.

12 year old Isabella, a French princess marries the King of England – only to discover he has a terrible secret. Ten long years later she is in utter despair – does she submit to a lifetime of solitude and a spiritual death – or seize her destiny and take the throne of England for herself?

Isabella is just twelve years old when she marries Edward II of England. For the young princess it is love at first sight – but Edward has a terrible secret that threatens to tear their marriage – and England apart.

Who is Piers Gaveston – and why is his presence in the king’s court about to plunge England into civil war?

The young queen believes in the love songs of the troubadours and her own exalted destiny – but she finds reality very different. As she grows to a woman in the deadly maelstrom of Edward’s court, she must decide between her husband, her children, even her life – and one breath-taking gamble that will change the course of history.

This is the story of Isabella, the only woman ever to invade England – and win.

In the tradition of Philippa Gregory and Elizabeth Chadwick, ISABELLA is thoroughly researched and fast paced, the little known story of the one invasion the English never talk about.